The following bills of interest to the energy industry are under consideration in the 100th Illinois General Assembly during its Spring 2018 session:
Senate Bill 2213 (Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Skokie and Rep. Juliana Stratton, D-Chicago) – would require state agencies to adopt, maintain and enforce environmental rules that are at least as stringent as various previous regulatory baselines under federal law. Passed the Senate on a vote of 32-21-1. Arrived in the House.
Senate Bill 3005 (Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago) – would allow any “person” to appeal or intervene in lawsuits challenging decisions of state agencies, a legal status which is currently reserved for “parties” to the decision. Re-referred to the Senate Assignments Committee.
Senate Bill 3549 (Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet and Rep. Arthur Turner, D-Chicago) – would require certain inspections of underground natural gas storage facilities. Passed the Senate on a vote of 52-0. Referred to the House Rules Committee.
House Bill 4081 (Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island and Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago) – would impose sanctions and penalties on any company that relocates a call center, or large portion of a call center, out of state. Passed the House on a vote of 61-49. Referred to the Senate Assignments Committee.
House Bill 4898 (Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago) – would prohibit a utility in a specific geographic area from using a previously approved rider mechanism to recover costs of its infrastructure modernization program. Re-referred to the House Rules Committee.
House Bill 5101 (Rep. Marcus Evans, D-Chicago) – would limit electricity customer choice to using municipal aggregation programs to obtain power from alternative retail electric suppliers (ARES). Re-referred to the House Rules Committee.
House Bill 5564 (Rep. Anna Moeller (D-Elgin) – would require that parties have the option of trial by jury in property condemnation proceedings associated with use of eminent domain authority. Tabled in the House Judiciary – Civil Committee.
House Bill 5626 (Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago) – would make several statutory changes regarding alternative retail electric suppliers (ARES), including not allowing ARES to charge certain customers more for electricity than the rate charged by the default electricity supplier. Re-referred to the House Rules Committee.